1. Technical Field
The present application relates to a label remover for removing labels from bottles, and a method for treatment of bottles or containers as well as a device used in the method.
2. Background Information
Background information is for informational purposes only and does not necessarily admit that subsequently mentioned information and publications are prior art.
On some types of bottle cleaning machines, an accumulator and/or infeed area of the conveyor device that feeds the bottles can be located at the bottle inlet of the cleaning machine in the form of a liquid bath, in which the bottles are immersed over a portion of their height to reduce the acoustical emissions caused by the bottles banging into one another in the accumulator or infeed area. While in this liquid bath, the bottles are simultaneously or substantially simultaneously sprayed with water by means of at least one spray head or nozzle head which is located above the path of movement of these bottles.
But problems occur in the cleaning of bottles or similar containers in bottle or container cleaning machines, such as when the containers to be cleaned carry self-adhesive labels made of paper, plastic or a compound material. Such labels are difficult to remove from the individual container and also have the major disadvantage that when they are removed they generally crumple or curl up. Consequently, not only is the removal of these labels interfered with by the bottles contained in the bottle cells of the bottle baskets of a cleaning machine, and especially when the cross section of these bottle cells is fitted relatively tightly to the outside cross section of the bottles, but it also makes even more difficult the removal of the detached but partly or completely curled or crumpled labels from the bottle cells, specifically on account of the tight spatial conditions in the bottle cells, and on account of the fact that the labels still have some of their self-adhesive characteristics, at least to some extent. At least parts of some of the labels are therefore carried into the cleaning machine by the bottle cells.
In other words, in some beverage bottle cleaning machines there is a plurality of individual bottle holders or cells. These cells may be substantially box-shaped or shaped to follow the contours of the bottles that they hold. In operation, bottles are fed into the cells, one bottle for each cell, at an inlet section and are then conveyed inside the cells through the cleaning machine. Because of the relatively tight spacing inside each cell, it may be difficult to remove the labels from the bottles and then remove the labels from the cell itself. The labels could crumple or curl up inside the cell, or stick to the cell walls because of the adhesive on the labels. As a result, the cells could become blocked up or cluttered with label pieces and/or the cleaning machine itself could be cluttered with label pieces.
To promote the removal of the labels from the bottle cells, it is in many cases desirable to increase the dimensions of the bottle cells, as a result of which, given the same dimensions of a cleaning machine, the cleaning capacity of the machine (bottles cleaned per unit of time) is significantly reduced.
To be able to remove the self-adhesive labels, it is also desirable to increase the label removal capacity which is conventionally present in a cleaning machine and works with a high-volume flow of bottles, which could possibly require at least an increased motor power and additional energy consumption.